


Against the Law

by autocatic



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fear of loss, Forbidden Love, Karst is a romantic old man, M/M, Not Incest, Romance, Sexual Content, There’s no Rost pairings so I thought why not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:21:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24117925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autocatic/pseuds/autocatic
Summary: Even outcasts need a companion.
Relationships: Rost/Karst
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	Against the Law

**Author's Note:**

> Since Rost and Karst have clearly known each other for a long time, and since Karst is the only merchant who sells to Rost and Aloy, I thought it’d be fun to write a short fic about them being secretly together. I learned that a relationship that’s mightily forbidden by tribal law is fun to write, because angst.

Rost goes hunting one afternoon, after telling Aloy to stay home and practice the making and sharpening of arrows. The little girl, although unpleased that she couldn’t accompany him, doesn’t say a word as her attention was fully directed to the task at hand: giving a fine edge to the arrowheads with a sharpening stone. 

Rost takes a different path -- one that he never takes when he would go hunting. Aloy doesn’t notice that.

He does, however, hunt some boars along with a couple rabbits, and throws their carcasses into his satchel; but that isn’t what he’d left for. As unbelievable as it sounds, even outcasts feel lonely sometimes.

He is reserved, taciturn and -- thankfully -- doesn’t ever need to interact with any living creature within the Sacred Land. But, that never meant he couldn’t have a… _friend_ , for lack of a better term. 

Rost wouldn’t admit it, but he’d been craving the company of a very specific person for a while now (not that he had anyone else to “company”). It has been over a week since he had last seen him, and he found that he couldn’t bear staying away any longer. 

He feels a little ashamed for needing, so badly, to spend sometime with the said person; and even more for the way his heart feels content as he makes his way through the wild. 

He arrives at his friend’s cabin, doesn’t find him outside, so he knocks on the door. “ _Karst?_ ” he calls. 

The door is opened almost immediately, and Rost is met with the smiling face of the Nora merchant. “Well, well, well. I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon, stranger.”

“I wasn’t, either,” replies Rost. “I came here to purchase a, uh--”

Karst gives a knowing smirk, leaning against the door frame. “I take it you missed me?” the smile threatening to break over Rost’s face spurs the merchant on. “I sympathize, my friend. I mean, what’s not to miss?”

Rost sighs, takes a look around to ensure that no one was watching them, then walks past Karst and into the cabin. “So full of yourself, aren’t you?”

“Hmm,” Karst approaches Rost, and embraces him from behind, seeking bodily warmth. “Does it bother you?”

Rost leans into the embrace instantly. He can’t think about anything except how warm and benevolent Karst is; and how Karst’s beard tickles him as the latter trails kisses along the back of his neck and behind his ear. 

Rost lets out a low sound that’s somewhere between a hum and purr. He turns around and takes Karst’s lip with his in a soft kiss that slowly blooms into a passionate, heated one.

Rost was the one to break away, panting. “I-- I need to go back home. Aloy has a habbit of getting herself in trouble when I’m away for long.”

“What?!” Karst says. “you just got here. And… I don’t want you to leave so soon.” A pause. “If you don’t want me touching you, then I will keep my hands to myself. Just stay a little longer. Please.”

“It’s not about that. It’s--”

Rost struggles to find a proper explanation, and presently sighs and gaze down at the floor. “I’ve been thinking about our… affair. You could get cast out if someone were to see you with me. And I cannot let that happen. You’re a good man, Karst. You--”

“So are you. And, frankly, I wouldn’t mind being an outcast again. You know I favor the wild over the village. Moreover,” Karst inches closer to Rost. “I favor being with you than the tribe.”

Rost can’t help the smile that shows on his face at that. “You sure know how to set an outcast at ease,” he says fondly.

“I only offer that treatment for one, special outcast. Speaking of _that_ outcast, I think you might know him,” Karst caresses a hand over Rost’s face, softly grazes his face-paint. “He’s a handsome, craggy brunette, with a set of breathtaking, gray eyes; he sports a long, braided beard that I simply adore, and has the bulky body of a great hunter. He holds my heart in the palm of his hand but, sadly, doesn’t know it.” Karst, then, presses a kiss to the palm of Rost’s hand, and when he does so, Rost could almost feel himself melt. 

Karst knew how to make him feel many things; loved and appreciated are just two of them. 

They kiss again, Rost placing both his hands on each side of Karst’s face, while Karst’s hands lie on the small of Rost’s back. They fall onto the soft, Nora bed together, Karst on top of Rost, gazing down at him with sultry desire in his eyes. Rost works on stripping Karst off every piece of clothing on his body, then strips off his own. He runs his hand over Karst’s muscled, hirsute chest, then reaches his hand behind Karst’s neck and pulls him closer.

Karst brushes his fingers over the scars on Rost’s chest, gently and tenderly; the touches like a soft breeze against Rost’s skin. Then, he makes love to Rost with strong passion, laying one of Rost’s legs over his shoulder for a good angle; constantly hitting the magic spot inside Rost that makes his back arch involuntarily and fills his senses with pure pleasure.

Sometimes, even when he would only graze it, it is enough to make the man beneath him let out musical sounds that drive him crazy. 

Karst holds Rost’s stiffened cock with his left hand, and strokes back and forth, lingering at the tip to press lightly there, for he knows that it’s what he likes to do to himself when lonely. 

Rost’s cock twitches in his hand, and Karst knows he is reaching his peak. He looks at Rost’s face, and It’s all flushed and lustful as he gazes back at him.

No one has ever touched Rost the way Karst does, nor has anyone ever cared for his pleasure as the Nora merchant did. He would make sure, every time, that Rost was pleased with whatever he did in bed. 

Rost lets out a deep moan when he comes, his semen spilling over his and Karst’s abdomen. Karst thrusts a few more times, before coming inside Rost. Breathlessly, he leaves kisses on his lover’s temple and above his eyebrow. Rost utters a gruff sound that’s somewhere between a hum and moan when Karst does so. 

Afterwards, the two men lay in bed, exhausted and suddenly aware of their old age. They share a look; knowing that they had thought of the same thing, then laugh aloud together.

When the sun goes below the horizon, Rost knows it’s time to leave. He had a little one waiting for him back home, with sharp and new arrows to show him. 

He puts his clothes back on, and struggles to remember where he’d abandoned his cloak.  Before leaving, he looks at Karst who was deep asleep on his bed. A small smile creeps across his face, and he strokes Karst’s cheek ever so gently. 

Rost had fought and battled beyond the Sacred Land, borne injuries that threatened his life, and nearly died numerous times, but nothing has ever scared him like the affection and love he felt for the unlawful merchant. His own feelings and emotions terrified him, for he’d never loved someone so deeply in his life.

The fear of losing his dear lover terrified him.

He’d lost everyone whom he loved and cared for. He’d lost his mate and daughter to outlanders’ massacre, and he was going to lose Aloy in a few years, when she wins the proving and becomes a brave.  Perhaps it’s a curse, he thinks miserably. He, however, pushes that thought aside as he brings his gaze back to Karst. And he says, in a whisper: 

“I will visit again soon, I promise.”


End file.
